The Australian Government's record on disability
Support for workforce participation and work
Chris and Vicki have a son, Darren, who has Down syndrome and is about to leave high school. They want Darren to be as independent as possible when he leaves school, but worry about whether he will be able to cope with work in open employment.
Under an NDIS Darren and his parents would work with their Local Area Coordinator to identify different options for Darren’s future. Once Darren is comfortable with his plan, an individually funded package would be developed.
An option that Darren and his family are keen to explore is to gain work experience from the local Australian Disability Enterprise and use those services as a pathway to work in the open labour market.
Extra funding Australia wide
In addition to an NDIS, in this Budget, the Government will provide $59.6 million over four years for Australian Disability Enterprises to continue to help workers with disability participate in supported employment.
This builds on previous initiatives including:
- $8.7 billion from 2009-10 to 2015-16 through the National Specific Purpose Payment under the National Disability Agreement;
- investing more than $3 billion from 2011-12 to 2014-15 in Disability Employment Services;
- providing $220 million up to June 2012 for early intervention services for children with autism under the Helping Children with Autism initiative.
- an extra $200 million from 2011-12 to 2013-14 for support for school students with a disability; and
- providing $118 million from 2011-12 to 2015-16 for access to early intervention services for children with vision or hearing impairments, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome or fragile X syndrome.
Commonwealth funding for disability services
Source: 2012 Report on Government Services